René Mésangeau (or Mézangeau, Mesangio, Mésengeot, Mesengé, Meziniot, Meschanson, Mesangior, Mazagau, Merengeau, Messangior, Mezanio, and Mezengau) (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

15671638) was a French composer and

lutenist A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" commonly r ...

. He is considered to be one of the finest lutenists of the 17th century. In 1619, he settled in France and married the daughter of the spinet maker Jean Jacquet. In 1621, he was appointed ''Musicien ordinaire du Roi'' at the French court by

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

. It is known that during his life he visited Germany and England. He died around January 1638 in Paris. His output consists of about fifty works, including his own works and transcriptions, which were influential in the development of lute music after 1630. He was a pioneer of the new D minor lute tuning that was important for the ''

style brisé ''Style brisé'' (French: "broken style") is a general term for irregular Arpeggio, arpeggiated texture in instrumental music of the Baroque music, Baroque period. It is commonly used in discussion of music for lute, keyboard instruments, or the vio ...

''. His achievements brought him recognition by Pierre Ballard (1631 and 1638) and by

Marin Mersenne Marin Mersenne, OM (also known as Marinus Mersennus or ''le Père'' Mersenne; ; 8 September 1588 – 1 September 1648) was a French polymath whose works touched a wide variety of fields. He is perhaps best known today among mathematicians for ...

in his ''Harmonie Universelle'' (1636

His pupil

Ennemond Gaultier Ennemond Gaultier (Gaultier le Vieux, Gaultier de Lyon; also spelled ''Gautier'' or ''Gauthier'') (c. 157517 December 1651) was a French lutenist and composer. He was one of the masters of the 17th century French lute school. Gaultier was born i ...

composed the first known

tombeau A tombeau (plural tombeaux) is a musical composition (earlier, in the early 16th century, a poem) commemorating the death of a notable individual. The term derives from the French word for "tomb" or "tombstone". The vast majority of tombeaux date f ...

(''Le Tombeau de Mézangeau'', 1638) for him.

Sources

* *''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''

References

External links

Recordings of some Mésangeau's pieces
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mesangeau, Rene 16th-century births 1638 deaths 17th-century French classical composers French Baroque composers Composers for lute French classical musicians French lutenists French male classical composers 17th-century French male musicians